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David A. Sherbow Popular Music Collection

About the Collection

The David A. Sherbow Popular Music Collection consists of nonfiction works about popular music history, music business, and the recording industry. Among its contents are a large number of biographies and histories of both individual music performers as well as groups ranging from the Beatles to U2. The collection includes traditional biographies with black and white illustrations along with oversize, color pictorial books chronicling concert tours of groups such as the Rolling Stones. Some slip-cased editions include media pieces such as compact discs and vinyl recordings, while others showcase replications of ephemera such as letters and concert tickets. Beyond biographical material on performing artists, popular music genres, and industry overviews, subjects covered in this collection include: artist management, songwriting technique and marketing, record promotion, legal aspects of the music industry, and popular music journalism.

About David Sherbow

Maryland native David Sherbow is a thirty-five year veteran of the music business industry. He has worked as a manager of regional and national bands specializing in rock, r & b, and hip-hop music, and managed a rock and roll booking agency. No stranger to the corporate world of music, David has also served as the Head of Promotion for WGM’s Asylum Records and as President of Whitewall Records. Over the span of his career, David’s hip-hop/urban independent record promotion companies were responsible for promoting over 100 number one records for such prestigious labels as Def Jam and Koch/E1. In his role as an independent record promoter, David has helped bring into the spotlight artists including Kanye West and Jay-Z. David has worked in the internet music business industry as well, developing and launching MPTrax, a site which connects recording artists directly with fans. In 2008, he developed the web based LiveMusicMachine.com a music booking and calendar widget that allows artists global access to performing opportunities.

David had once considered working as a lawyer (he received his JD in 1976 from Washington University), but the lure of the music business was too great for him to resist. He reports that over the years, he has attended literally thousands of concerts, experiencing artists ranging from Janis Joplin to U2 to Elvis Presley. David has written an e-book, One Fan at a Time: Building your Music Biz to the Max (2010), and occasionally posts on his blog, MyLifewithMusic.com. David hosts a large Twitter following at @MusicBizGuy and currently serves as the CEO of his own consulting agency, DAS Consulting Group, a record marketing and promotion company specializing in urban music independent radio promotion. Recently, he has also taught at Towson University as an Adjunct Instructor for the Music Industry II course. His donation of over 500 books for the David A. Sherbow Popular Music Collection is a welcome gift to Cook Library and will be appreciated by music students and faculty for years to come.